Diana Thorneycroft

Canadian, b. 1956

Snare, 1994

silver print on paper, 7/10

Categories:

Winnipeg artist Diana Thorneycroft has been touted as one of the most provocative image-makers in Canada. Her work from the 1990s is characterized by elaborate dreamlike settings, where her body is entangled in various masks, braces, and pseudo appendages. Produced through long exposures and using a hand-held flashlight as the only source of light, this series, as represented by Untitled (Snare), investigated the body as a site of experiences ranging from sexual ecstasy to physical torture. As her work on this series evolved it became very performance-like and exposed taboos around sexuality, gender, and identity. Akin to hallucinations and dreaming, this entire series shows a desire to uncover or understand the dark underbelly of the human psyche.